the mane's friend, the moon's guardian
by seventhharmony
Summary: after Madara messes up his jutsu, Naruto reïncarnates himself into a diffrent dimension. he wakes up as a foal on the doorstep of the apple family in equestria. follow naruto's journey as he accompanies the mane six on their adventures and helps teaching a certain princess the modern ways and perhaps even more. rated M for no-no language.
1. Chapter 1

_**HELLO! THIS IS SEVENTHHARMONY AND WELCOME TO MY VERY FIRST FANFICTION! THIS IS A NARUTO/MLP-FIM CROSSOVER. WARNING!1! ALL CHARACTERS IN EQUESTRIA ARE ANTHROMORPHIC! NOW ENOUGH WHINING, MORE READING!**_

"ninpou: daidouka no jutsu!" Naruto faintly heard the lone shout across the battlefield. the voice of said shout belonged to a certain Madara uchiha, the madman whose insane scheme of peace shattered the lives of many people. he planned the assassinations of leaders, the destruction of entire villages and a complete genocide if neccesary for his plans.

the five great elemental nations launched one massive assault on the madman and his last two companions. this was however easier said then done, as Obito was a full fledged uchiha with one implanted rinnegan and the corpses of the six dead jinchuuriki as puppets, and Zetsu not only had the ability to create thousands of solid living copies of himself, but also had the legendary mokuton abilities of the shodai hokage. needless to say that even when the allied shinobi forces outnumbered the remnants of the akatsuki, 25.000 to 1, the ancient shinobi proved that quality always prevailed over quantity by flinging mass destruction jutsu around like it was nothing. it turned even worse for the shinobi allies when Obito managed to revive the juubi with pieces that he gathered from the hachibi and the kyuubi. Madara's immortal edo tensei body proved to be a bitch since everytime someone managed to inflict a lethal wound on the old warmonger, it would simply regenerate within seconds. the combination of Zetsu's massive-scale wood jutsu, Obito's rinnegan jutsu and Madara's susano'o quickly decimated the entire army and soon only the most resilient remained standing. it was then that Madara jumped on top of the juubi's head and called out to the hundred or so surviving shinobi.

"I commend you for surviving this long against me and my associates. the mere fact that you are standing in front of me, means that you all have excepional skill. skill that will surely help me in my cause." he finished with a dark smirk plastered across his face. Zetsu folded his hands into the serpent sign and called out. "mokuton: shinjukai kotan!"

an absolutely humongous amount of roots erupted from the ground around the survivors that mowed their way to the center, trapping Naruto and the other survivors. vines started to surround them, and sapped them from a great part of their chakra, rendering all attempts to escape useless. the vines constricted, creating human shaped cocoons with the shinobi trapped inside. Madara's smirk got even wider as he went through a long series of hand seals and stopped at the dragon sign. "your knowledge, chakra and powers will be mine."

"ninpou: daidouka no jutsu!" he called, and one vine attached itself to him, Zetsu and Obito. one by one, the cocoons started to deflate as the people trapped inside were absorbed inside the three superhuman shinobi. Naruto felt his own conciousness fade as he saw his body break down into the paper-like substance that existed inside an edo tensei body.

_'will it truly end like this?' _he thought as his legs disappeared and parts of his stomach got tainted._ 'the war. the training I went through. the bonds I created. were the truly all for nothing?' _he began to question to himself. he had lost Kurama a few hours prior to the assimilation due to Obito's soul-separating abilities. his friends were all dead due to Zetsu's mokuton and he couldn't feel either Gaara's or Sasuke's chakra anymore. meaning that the two of them have already been assimilated into Madara. as Naruto's arms and torso broke down, and the jutsu began to affect his head, he began to see flashes of memories. his childhood, his rivalry with Sasuke, the team excercises with Kakashi and team 7, old man sandaime hokage, his fight with Gaara, losing Sasuke, training with Jiraiya, his fights with the several akatsuki members, battling Nagato, granny Tsunade, Hinata's confession, Killer Bee's training and finally his parents. he could see both his parents standing in front of him inside the white room inside his seal. his mother, with her brilliant red hair and stunning violet eyes, smiling, and his father with his spiky blond hair and his cerulean eyes, grinning like an idiot. the two held a small bundle between them. the bundle was a blonde baby with wisker marks. the two adults smiled at it, before his vision turned to black. only a third of his head was now left. one eye, and the surrounding skin that was still falling apart.

the eye closed.

_'no...'_

the eye opened again, showing an orange pupil with a vertical slit and the flow of chakra going out of his cocoon stopped before reversing, pulling it back in.

_'I refuse to die here...'_

the breakdown of his body reversed too. first his head reformed, then his neck, and slofly his shoulders and torso returned too.

_'I FUCKING REFUSE TO DIE LIKE THIS!' _he roared in his mind as he began to pull the chakra from the web of vines towards him.

outside, Madara felt that something was wrong. Obito and Zetsu felt it too, but before they could pull the vines loose, their bodies started to disintegrate like the ones inside the cocoons. they screamed in agony as the two S-clas nin could feel their chakra getting ripped away.

"it's that little uzumaki shit!" Zetsu roared as he tried to pry the vines out of his back. Obito panicked and started to run through hand signs. suddenly, he began to spasm as the breakdown of his body accelerated. within seconds, he was sucked into the vines. dead before he could even scream. Zetsu was already half gone when he crawled over to Madara.

"Madara-sama! help me, please!" he begged the ancient shinobi. Madara simply looked down as he raised his leg, and kicked Zetsu in the face, crushing his skull and killing him instantly. Zetsu's body got sucked into the vines and Madara grinned. he raised his left hand and saw that his little finger and ring finger had already vanished.

"you truly are full of suprises huh uzumaki? very well. I know when I am defeated, however I shall not go down without leaving you a little present. he lifted his right hand up into the sky and made a half ram sign. underneath him the eye of the juubi lit up, and the incarnation of destruction was awakened from it's mindless state. the ground shook and the trees got uprooted as it roared. the shockwave of the roar shattered Madara's edo tensei body. the body dispersed and the vines sucked the chakra out of every part. the vines retracted back into the forest as the daidouka jutsu wore off. the juubi, for what seemed like hours, stood quietly staring at the artificial forest as the chakra levels inside started to rise to a level that rivaled it's own.

a shockwave erupted from the middle of the forest. the trees ripped away in a circular way as a monstrous tornado formed around a figure in the middle. the figure was no-one less then Naruto uzumaki himself. his shirt was torn away, and black seal-like lines were spread out across his chest and arms. his eyes were an orang tint, his hair red and long. it was spiky with one bang crossing his right eye like Madara had. he was pale. his pants were orange and torn around the edges. he was barefoot as his sandals were ripped away when the trees attacked. the juubi roared as it raised it's hand and brought it down, aiming to crush the human in front of it. Naruto raised his own hand and waited until the last moment. when the hand was almost touching his, he roared "fuuton: reppusho!"

a wave of violent winds shot out of his palm, and deflected that of the juubi, throwing the great beast off balance and onto it's back. Naruto jumped up, before flipping through hand signs. he made a pushing motion as a pure white chakra gathered in front of him and with a roar of "hakureiki no jutsu!" a white dragon holding a purple orb shot at the beast's face, before exploding in a dome of white light and an extremely high pitched screeching sound, both blinding and deafening the great demon.

"the rikudou sennin might have had trouble with you, but he only had the very beginnings of ninjutsu. he had the raw power, but he lacked the refinement we have today." he mumbled as he calmly walked up to the beast. he folded his hands into the serpent seal and called out "mokuton: jukai kotan."

massive roots erupted from the ground before restricting the beast's limbs and tails. Naruto jumped on top of the beast's stomach, before charging a rasenshuriken. he jumped up with chakra enhancing his legs, firing him into the air like a missile. at the peak of his jump, he purposely overloaded his rasenshuriken. the wind blades grew to frightening lengths and the core grew to the size of a chou oodama rasengan. he cocked back his arm and with a roar of "fuuton: chou oodama rasenshuriken!" he threw the wind shuriken, not caring that he was still inside the blast radius. in fact, as he threw it he smiled one of his few genuine smiles. the shuriken made contact with the beast's belly before collapsing into itself. for a single moment everything stopped. there was no wind, no sound, no movement. even the rasenshuriken seemed so small that it was about to vanish into thin air. Naruto's smile turned into a nasty smirk.

"boom." he whispered just before all hell broke loose. the rasenshuriken expanded into a massive dome of violent gales. wind blades ripped into both Naruto and the juubi. Naruto laughed like a madman as the juubi screamed in agony. the microscopic wind blades cut into it's body, shredding it's chakra and dispersing it into the air. Naruto's body kept falling apart, however due to Madara's edo-tensei body as soon as it fell apart, it regenerated, keeping Naruto alive. after what seemed like an eternity, the wind subsided and all that was left of the battlefield was one single crater. the juubi's chakra was now nothing more then a red mist. Naruto crash-landed in the middle of the crater. the lines lining his chest and arms lit up as he slammed both of his palms onto the ground. the lines crawled off of him into the ground, forming an intricate sealing matrix.

"gotta hand it to Madara. he was an ass, but god damn did he know his fuuinjutsu." he concentrated on the red mist that was already slowly reforming back into a solid body. he grabbed the mist with his own chakra as he called out " Idaina chikyū no kyūshū gyōretsu: FUIN!" the mist swirled slowly at first, but gradually it picked up speed. Naruto carved a swirl into the center of the sealing matrix and as soon as he linked the juubi's chakra to it, the chakra got sucked into the earth like a vacuum. the sealing matrix glowed a bright red as the mist vanished. then the last of the red mist was sucked in, Naruto slashed the stone containing the swirl in half, effectively destroying the activation key of the seal. the sealing matrix turned blue, before disappearing completely. Naruto sighed as he stood up.

"as your chakra originated from the earth, your chakra shall return to the earth. farewell... shinju." he used a small doton jutsu to seal up the crater and began carving the names of his fallen friends into several stones.

(two years later)

Naruto sat crosslegged deep inside a cave. in front of him stood a giant scroll with a massive, detailed sealing matrix. in his right hand he held a brush. with quick and precise strokes he added the finishing touches to his seal. he put his brush down and smiled as he observed his handiwork. he inspected every stroke, dot and line on the seal with extreme care.

"perfect." he said to himself as he laid the scroll down. he stood up and stretched his back with a yawn. he stepped into the center of the scroll and put his hands in a rat sign while he channeled chakra into the seal through his feet. "I guess it's time to say goodbye to this world. it's been fun, but it's time that I actually start living from now on. I just hope that the next world will be a peaceful one." he shrugged as the seal began to light up. "sunpo umarekawari fuin." he grinned as his body began to fall apart into edo tensei shreds and his soul got sucked into the seal before everything turned black.

when he woke up, the first thing he noticed was that he was covered in grey fur. he was covered in red blankets and... small.

_'oh you've got to be fucking with me.' _he thought in annoyance as he realised that he had been reverted to a baby. he looked up, and could see that he lied in front of a door. he turned around, only to see trees. as far as he could see, there were trees. it was getting dark, and he could see in the sky that it was going to rain soon so he did the one thing he could in his current body.

he cried.

he let out the most heart wrenching cry a baby could make and squeezed some tears out. soon he could hear a deep voice behind the door speaking with a lighter voice before the door opened. in front of him stood what looked like an anthromorphic horse. he had a yellow coat with a hite muzzle and a deep red mane. his eyes were brown and he had some sort of wooden cup-like mark on the side of his leg. he wore a woodcutter's shirt and a stetson hat. his legs were horse-like, meaning that they ended in hooves, while his arms were just like a furry human's, meaning that they ended in hands, with fingers. he bowed down and carefully lifted Naruto's small frame up.

"hello there li'l one. who're you?" he asked in a deep bass-like voice with a southern accent. both the baby and the adult then noticed a small piece of paper attached to the back of his blanket. on it stood only one word, and one word alone.

'Maelstrom.'

"Maelstrom eh? that's a mighty strong name ya got there, kid." he hummed, smiling.

"what was that Cider?" a sweet feminine voice rang from behind the adult stallion and the now named Cider turned around to the voice. behind him stood a red coated mare. her mane was dark blonde and her eyes were a bright apple green. she wore a white sundress and a pink bow in her braided mane. the sundress flowed freely and Naruto could see a large bump on her stomach. "it's a baby." he said to the mare. a tick mark on the side of her muzzle formed and she bumped his head fith a fist. "no shit sherlock!" she exclaimed. "what's it doing here?" she asked while holding her own belly. he shrugged.

"this li'l one just lied in front of our door with this note attached to his blanket. it says Maelstrom so I guess that's his name." he explained to her. she pulled the blanket aside, revealing his face and a small horn potruded from his head, revealing that he was an unicorn. Naruto, or as he was now named, Maelstrom yawned cutely. the foal shut its eyes and snuggled into Cider's arm, making both adults gush a little bit.

"Peachy, we can't let him out there. we both know just how bad that orphanage is in canterlot and we have enough space on the farm anyway." Cider began while his wife stared at him.

"hard Cider. are you suggesting that we should take a foal into our household while I'm eight months pregnant?" she asked him blankly. Cider smiled at her while rubbing her bump with one free hand.

"why not? looking at this li'l one's age, I guess he's about seven months old. I think he'll make a mighty fine older brother for our li'l Macintosh. we can get Granny Smith to help us with them and when he grows up he can help us out in the orchard. come on Peachy Pie, if we send li'l maelstrom to the orphanage, he won't have a childhood at all." he reasoned with his wife. she contemplated his words and had to agree that he had a point. she looked at the sleeping foal in her husband's arm and sighed deeply.

_'Celestia damn those maternal instincts.' _she growled in her head. "fine. we'll adopt li'l maelstrom. but only because he's so damn cute." she relented and Cider suppressed the urge to cheer.

the two put Maelstrom in the crib they had bought for Macintosh and quietly closed the door.

if only they knew what this little foal would mean to equestria in the future.

_ninpou: daidouka no jutsu: ninja art: great assimilation technique._

_mokuton: shinjukai kotan: wood release: divine forest emergence._

_fuuton: reppusho: wind release: gale palm._

_hakureiki no jutsu: extreme white attack._

_mokuton: jukai kotan: wood release: deep forest emergence._

_fuuton: chou oodama rasenshuriken: wind release: massive bigball spiraling shuriken._

_Idaina chikyū no kyūshū gyōretsu__ fuin: great earth absorption seal._

_sunpo umarekawari fuin: dimension reïncarnation seal._

_**A/N: THAT'S IT! THE FIRST CHAPTER OF MY FIRST STORY. I HOPE YOU LIKE IT, AND I HOPE YOU'LL REVIEW. FIRST OFF: NO, NARUTO IS NOT GOING TO BE GODLIKE. HE LOST HIS EDO TENSEI BODY WHEN HE REÏNCARNATED HIMSELF, AND HE WILL ONLY BE ABLE TO USE SAND, FIRE AND WOOD TECHNIQUES ON A SMALL SCALE IN ADDITION TO REGULAR UNICORN MAGIC. HE'S NOT GOINT TO BE DARK, BROODY, EMO OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT AND THIS IS GOING TO BE A STRAIGHT PAIRING. NO HAREM.**_

_**BYE BYE!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**heya everypony! this chapter will be a bit of an authors note. I will put up a poll about Maelstrom's future career choice. this will have a large influence on the story as a whole seeing as it will define his cutie mark, relations with family, friend groups and his additude towards stuff. I have three choices ready, and will be explaining those and the effects on the story in a minute. **_

_**also:**_

_**from this chapter on, every chapter will have a short about Maelstrom's childhood with the apple family. an omake if you will. I mean it would be a bit of a shame to just skip to halfway into his teenage years and leave a big plothole just to let the plot pick up. so some will be touching, some silly and some serious.**_

_career #1: royal guard._

_in this career, he'll become a member (or captain) of the royal guard. his cutie mark will become a shield with a green apple in the middle with two swords crossed behind it. his friend group will consist of several OC guards,Flash Sentry and Shining Armor. (of course by extention Cadance, Spike and Twilight too.) he'll have a friendly rivalry with Shining Armor, with the two constantly trying to one-up each other. he'll also have regular contact with Blueblood much to his displeasure. the relations with the Apple family will be good, but he won't always be around to help them out when needed since due to his job, he'll live in canterlot._

_career #2: musician._

_in this career choice, he'll be taught to play the guitar by hard Cider and form a band. his cutie mark will be a flaming blue guitar. his friends will become Vinyl Scratch, Octavia, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and the members of his band (which will also be OC's). Vinyl, he and Octavia will constantly bicker which music style is better: techno, classical or hardrock. he'll live on his own in ponyville but he'll help out on sweet apple acres regularly, giving him a very good relationship with his family. he'll also, either regularly get pulled into Pinkie's misadventures, or go on a pranking spree with RD just for shits and giggles._

_career #3: professional magician._

_with this, he'll be like Trixie in a sense. performing magic tricks for audiences in his free time, while helping the younger generation unicorns develop their magical abilities. (think of Sweety Belle and Dinkie Doo.) his cutie mark will consist of a magic book with red stars flying off of it. unlike trixie, he won't brag about his magical ability and prefer to just sit down and either watch the chaos unfold, or grab a magic tome and read it. he'll become fast friends with Twilight due to her thirst for knowledge and Rarity due to him teaching Sweety Belle to control her magic. his relationship with the Apple family will be good, with him often helping them out in the orchard when he has some free time._

_**so yeah, those are the three career choices he'll get. do NOT put your choice into the reviews because I won't take those into account. the ONLY way you can choose is through the poll. I'll put the poll up today, and it will close on for one full week. meaning that on 13-07-2014 the poll will be closed, and I will immidiately start working on the next chapter. now without ado: the first omake!**_

omake #1: friendship is: making childish schemes.

both Maelstrom and 'big' Macintosh were now three years old and both young parents couldn't be happier. Maelstrom and Macintosh both turned out to be relatively quiet children. they got along just fine and shared almost everything and both of them, especially Maelstrom, turned out to be quite intelligent toddlers. a little too intelligent sometimes. hard Cider sometimes had a hard time to keep his eye on both foals as they often seemed to work together to get what they wanted. sometimes Macintosh would try to make a conversation with his father (which is quite hard since he mostly spoke in one word scentences), while Maelstrom would sneak into the kitchen and grab a couple of applefritters, or Maelstrom would perform a small magic trick (usually just making things fly randomly or conjuring sparks from his horn) while Macintosh would run outside to go 'adventuring' in the orchard, only to be dragged back by a very amused Granny Smith.

"mommy? daddy?" Maelstrom ran up to his father with an 'innocent' smile on his face. Cider and Peachy both stopped bucking the trees and turned to see their eldest child.

"yes sweety?" Peachy asked with a pleasant smile on her muzzle while Cider wiped the sweat off his brows.

"why do you kick those trees?" he asked innocently.

"to get to the apples, dear." Peachy answered.

"why?" he asked again.

" to gather an' sell 'em." Cider answered for his wife.

"why?"

"to gather money."

"why?"

"so we can buy you food and clothes sweety."

"why?"

"so y'all can stay healthy." Cider grunted curtly, getting more then a little bit irritated by now.

"why?"

"so you can both grow up big and really strong."

"why?" by now Granny Smith was silently snickering in the background while hard Cider was desperately trying not to eat his own hat out of frustration. let it be known that hard Cider was never a patient pony. Peachy tried to keep smiling as she kept answering his questions.

"so that you can- wait a minute-" she narrowed her eyes in realisation. " BIG MACINTOSH, IF I CATCH YOU NICKIN' APPLEFRITTERS AGAIN, YOUR ASS IS GRASS!" she suddenly roared as she turned towards the farmhouse. her roar also drew Cider's attention as he too, turned his head to the farm. big mistake on their part because as soon as they turned around, little Maelstrom started sprinting towards the barn like the timberwolfes were hot on his hooves with Macintosh right behind him.

"Maelstrom!" both parents roared at their sons retreating forms while Granny Smith was by now rolling on the floor in laughter.

"tactical retreat!"

"eeyup!"


	3. Chapter 3

_**hiya everypony! I'm sorry it took a wjile but you know what happens when you try to maintain a school career. anyway, here's the next chapter. I noticed that an awful lot of people wanted Maelstrom to either be a musician, or a sentry guard. in fact: the votes were tied so I had to make a few compromises in my story plans to make it work. I've put the two together, sort of and plan to build up to use both career idea's in a good way. how? you'll see. now ONWARDS TO THE CHAPTER!**_

a loud knocking could be heard from Maelstrom's front door. the anthromorphic pony in question groaned and checked his alarm clock.

"it's five in the fucking mornin'. someone had better be dead or someone's gonna be dead soon." he grumbled as he pulled on some pants.

in the twenty-four years that he had been living in equestria he has been adjusting pretty well to the quiet peaceful life with the apple family. as children both he and big mac often helped hard cider in the fields, causing both of them to become prime examples of healthy muscular stallions without looking like weight lifters like bulk biceps. he decided to let his hair grow out a bit and just let it hang, much to the neverending irritation of his sister's fashionista friend Rarity.

he opened the door with a deep scowl on his face, his horn glowing red and his guitar in his hands poised to smash the knocking pony's face in. in front of him stood a pink coated, poofy raspberry maned mare with big blue eyes and a huge smile on her face. she wore a white T-shirt with three balloons printed on the front, with a pair of jean shorts. the one knocking was no-one else but Pinkie Pie. he sent her a glare with a twitching eye but lowered his guitar anyway. he knew from personal experience that if Pinkie wanted to get in, she would get in one way or another. trying to brush Pinkie off would just end up in a major headache.

"oh, it's you Pinkie. c'mon in." Maelstrom told the younger mare who smiled brightly. Maelstrom put the partypony on his couch, before handing her a cup of iced tea. he sat down on one of the chairs around his dining table and stuffed some tobacco into a long, thin pipe. he lit it, before calmly taking a drag as the smell of burning tobacco filled the room. "why are you knocking on my front door on this ungodly hour?" he asked the mare after exhaling some smoke. Pinkie took a sip and grinned brightly. "Mayor mare told me that you have to give the representative from canterlot a tour of the village tomorrow for the summer sun celebration. isn't that neat? isn't it? huh? huh?" she rattled on while Maelstrom pinched the bridge of his nose.

"an' pray tell: _why_ didn't you tell me that _yesterday_?" he ground out in irritation. honestly, he adored Pinkie Pie, but sometimes the hyperactive mare gave him the violent urge to shove a whole bottle of ritalin down her throat. Pinkie giggled lightheartedly before shrugging.

"I forgot." Maelstrom sighed in exhasperation as he hung his head. "what time." he asked lamely while Pinkie scratched her muzzle.

"noon. at the plaza in front of the library. that's what the Mayor said." she said excidedly before putting the cup down and bouncing towards the front door. "I gotta go! I also forot to tell Rarity that she was in charge of decorations tomorrow so I've got to go tell her now!" Maelstrom sweatdropped again at the thought of the purple maned pony being awakened from her beauty sleep as he ushered her out of his house.

"you go tell Rarity then. in the meantime I'm going back to bed to catch some z's." she nodded excidedly and bounced off. Maelstrom slammed the door before putting his pipe down and crawling back into bed. he smiled lightly as sleep claimed him again.

a few hours later Maelstrom walked down the main road towards the library. his outfit consisted of a pair of ripped jeans and a simple red T-shirt. his cutie mark, consisting of a flaming blue guitar, was present on his left sleeve and a black guitar case covered in stickers strapped to his back. he was sipping on a white mug filled with black coffee. on the mug were three black lines. one near the top, one in the middle and one near the bottom. beside each linestood a simple text. on the first line:_** don't even try to talk! **_on the middle: _**talk slowly. **_and on the final line stood: _**conversation now possible, sarcasm may be present.**_ as he arrived, he checked the clock in the distance.

"11:58. hm, must be one of those punctual types from the royal court I've heard of." he sat down and downed the rest of his mug and put it in a side pocket of his case before seeing a golden carriage that was being pulled by two snow white pegasi in golden armor land in front of him. a young unicorn mare stepped out alongside a small dragon. the mare had a light purple coat and a deep purple mane and tail. in the middle of her mane/tail, a lighter purple and a pink stripe were highlighted. she wore a white blouse under a purple blazer and a thigh-length purple skirt with her cutie mark, a pink star surrounded by six white stars, visible on the side. the dragon was a royal purple colour with green spines and a green belly.

"thank you gentlemen." the mare said to the two pegasi, who saluted back and flew off." both started looking around and the mare looked at the clock.

"we were supposed to meet up with one of the locals to help us with the inspections for the summer sun celebrations at noon. where do you think he is?" she asked the dragon, who shrugged in response. "dunno Twilight, let's ask that pony over there if he knows." he suggested while pointing at Maelstrom. the now named Twilight nodded before walking over to him.

"umm, excuse me. do you know who was supposed to meet us here?" she smiled at him as he stood up and stuck out his hand, which she accepted. "the name's Maelstrom. I'll be your guide today here in Ponyville, miss...?" he grinned. "my name is Twilight Sparkle and the dragon over there is my assistant Spike. I am princess celestia's student and I was appointed to inspect the preparations for the summer sun celebrations." she responded with no little pride. Maelstrom lifted the guitar case on his back with a huff and motioned for the two to follow him. "first we'll go and see how the food is coming along alright?" he smiled as he started to move down the main road.

"so mister Maelstrom... what is it that you do here in Ponyville? your name rings a bell, but I can't recall where I heard it before." Spike asked while walking along the two unicorns. Maelstrom chuckled a little bit before tapping with his knuckle on the case on his back. "first off Spike, you can call me Maelstrom or Mael, bein' called 'mister' Maelstrom makes me feel old. second off, I'm a musician. I play the guitar an' perform the vocals in a band that me an' three friends formed a while back. that's only a night job though, during the day I'm either at work managing the 'keytone' music shop, or I work at Sweet Apple Acres with my siblings. now about you hearing my name before; that's quite possible. I've done a few gigs here an' there in canterlot an' manehattan so perhaps that's why." the three talked for a bit when they suddenly crossed paths with Pinkie who was bouncing around like always. Twilight tried to start a conversation with her but Pinkie just gasped very loud before sprinting off in a speed that would impress a certain blue coated pegasus he knew.

"don't worry too much about that, it's Pinkie Pie. she does random stuff like that all the time. let'smove on shall we?" he asked, waiting for Twilight to nod. the three turned right onto a dirt path into a forest of apple trees. Maelstrom began to smile when they heard a faint *twack* coming from behind a few trees. he motioned for his company to follow him until they arrived on a small clearing where they could see an orange coated mare high-kicking an apple tree. the kick sent the apples into cleverly placed baskets on the ground.

"hohoo, nice kick Applejack." Maelstrom said while stroking the fur under his chin like a beard. the mare turned around. her coat was a light orange while her mane and tail were light blonde. the had deep green eyes and freckle like markings under her eyes. she wore a checkered blouse and a pair of simple jeans with hard cider's old stetson hat on top of her head. her grin got bigger as she fist-bumped Maelstrom.

"howdy there Mael, how've you been?" she asked him as she picked an apple frrom the basked and tossed it over to him. he caught it in one hand and pointed over his shoulder with the other one. "been pretty good, busy as hell in the shop but I guess that's a good thing. Mayor mare asked me to tour these two representatives from canterlot around town. help 'em with inspections for the summer sun celebrations and stuff." he said offhandedly before taking a bite out of the apple. Applejack moved past her brother and stuck her hand out to Twilight which she accepted.

"hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle and this is Spike, we're-" Twilight managed to say before AJ shook her hand so hard that Twilight was literally getting flailed around.

"well howdy there Twilight, nice meetin' ya. we always love meeting new friends here at sweet apple acres. so you here to inspect the buffet?" she spoke excidedly. Maelstrom tapped her shoulder drawing her attention and he pointed at Twilight, who was now looking incredibly dizzy. "I don't think that these city folks are used to your handshakes AJ, calm down before you kill the poor mare." he said with a slight chuckle. suddenly he twitched with his ear as he heard a faint rumbling. the rumbling quickly became louder and as he remembered what day it was for the apple family he levitated himself into the tree before yelling at the top of his lungs.

"REDNECK STAMPEDE!"

AJ took a step back and Twilight stared strangely at the two before getting literally run over by a large group of ponies that were running towards the massive red barn. a few moments later Twilight stood back up with a bewildered expression etched on her face.

"what the hay was that?" she exclaimed. only to sweatdrop when both siblings responded with "our family". she and Spike followed the two Ponyville natives to the red barn where Maelstrom took a seat next to a little yellow coated filly and a large, muscular, red coated stallion. "soup's on everypony!" Applejack called out as she put her arm around both Twilight and Spike's necks and grinned.

"lemme introduce you to our family: Apple Cobbler, Apple Fritter, Apple Bumpkin, Red Gala, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel, Apple Tart, Baked Apples, Apple Brioche, Apple Cinnamon Crisp." she pointed at the yellow coated filly " my little sister, Applebloom" she poited at the red coated stallion "my other brother, Big Macintosh" she finally pointed at an old lime green coated mare sitting asleep in a rocking chair "and Granny Smith... up and at 'em Granny Smith, soup's on!"

the old mare woke up with a jolt before waddling over to the tables. "wha was that? soup's on?" she mumbled to Applejack who nodded. Applejack quickly set the table with massive amounts of apple related food, making Spike drool and Twilight grin.

"well, it seems that the food is in order so come on Maelstrom, we have a lot to do." she stated before looking down to see the filly in a cute blue sundress and a pink bow in her red mane making huge puppy eyes at her.

"aren't you gonna eat anythin' with us?" she asked innocently. Twilight tried to resist, but eventually relented with a groan and a cheer from Spike. she sat down and took an applefritter from the plate.

"a few bites can't hurt I guess."

two hours later.

"too... much... applepies..." Twilight groaned while walking down the dirt path with Spike and Maelstrom.

"blasphemy!" Maelstrom suddenly yelled. "one does not simply eat 'too much' of granny smith's applepies. there's no such thing." Twilight and Spike nodded simultaneously in fear of what the large stallion could do with that guitar case.

"oookay. anyway next one on the list is the weather which is supposed to be managed by someone called rainbow Dash." Spike read up from the list. Maelstrom perked up by the mention of the name and grinned. "well, whoever this rainbow Dash is, she's not doing a very good job." Twilight noted as she gazed at the sky, which was indeed filled with clouds. Mael's grin grew even more when he heard the familliar 'zoof' of his friend getting louder. he stepped back a bit and began counting backwards in his head.

_'three, two, one, aaand.'_

as if on cue, Twilight got smashed into a nearby puddle of mud by a rainbow coloured projectile. said projectile started laughing painfullly as she stood back up. the projectile was a blue coated pegasus mare with a rainbow coloured mane and tail. she wore a fake leather bomber jacket with two holes in the back to give her large wings freedom and dark green pants. the mare had violet coloured eyes and a silver necklace in the shape of a cloud with a thunderbolt shooting out of it.

"you were talking about my awesomeness?" she asked with a smug smirk plastered on her muzzle as she pointed at herself with her thumb.

"rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked irritated and drenched in muddy water. seeing the soaked mare, RD began laughing even harder.

"ahahahah, s-sorry, I-its all my fault (snort) here lemme fix you up with my patented rain-blow-dry." before Twilight could respond, rainbow already took off and started to rapidly spin around Twilight, creating a rainbow coloured tornado. when she stopped spinning, she took a peek at the purple unicorn and fell into another fit of wild giggles. Twilight's mane was now dry, and poofy enough to remind Maelstrom of a certain pink partypony. Twilight's eye twitched violently before coughing in her hand.

"good day miss Dash. my name is Twilight Sparkle and this is my assistant Spike. we are here to inspect the preparations for the summer sun celebration. you were supposed to keep the air clear for tomorrow if I'm correct?" Twilight stated with a criticizing eye at the cloud ridden sky above Ponyville. RD noticed and laughed nervously. "yeah well I was practicing my routines to impress the wonderbolts. I'll get to that after I'm finished." Twilight's face turned into a smirk as she poked the pegasus in her right shoulder.

"ha! you mean the wonderbolts, as in 'equestria's flying champions' the wonderbolts? puh-lease! they would never accept someone who can't even keep the sky clear for a single day." Twilight's provoking awakened RD's competitive spirit as she took off. "just you watch; I'll have the sky clear of clouds in ten seconds flat!" Maelstrom fished a pocket watch from his pants and started counting. after a stunning show of efficiency and acrobatics the sky was as promised, cloud free. Maelstrom wistled lowly.

"nine point six seconds, dashie. a new record, congrats brat." the unicorn and the pegasus fistbumped. "am I impressive enough that you'll finally introduce me to Fleetfoot?" rainbow Dash asked excited and hopeful. said hope deflated as soon as the unicorn shook his head.

"sorry dashie. but I've told you already that you'll have to make your own contacts. I won't introduce you to her just to get into the wonderbolts. you have to work for your spot with 'em just like everyone else." rainbow Dash kicked a pebble to the side while grumbling. "it's not fair that you know her from highschool." Maelstrom simply reacted maturely by sticking out his tongue and pulling down his eyelid. when he was done with his childish bout he scratched his chin.

"by the way Dash. could you tell Cloudchaser to go get those other two morons an' help set up the stage at the party site? I'll be there to help as soon as I finish touring miss Twilight here around town." he asked before rainbow Dash nodded excidedly. "you're going to perform at Pinkie's party? then I just _know_ it'll be awesome! will octavia and vinyl be there too?" Maelstrom shook his head negatively.

"naw. tavi's got a big concert in canterlot in about a week an' she has to practice with the rest there, an' vinyl's got a huge rave in manehattan tonight. knowing her, she'll probably get drunk off her tits again so the soonest she'll be back is in about two days. anyway I gotta go, Spike is starting to get bored I think." he motioned to the purple dragon, who was drawing circles in the dirt with a stick. Dash nodded before taking off to find Cloudchaser and Maelstrom turned to the duo with an apologetic smile on his face.

"sorry about that, but knowing Cloudchaser she'll be flying around and rainbow Dash is one of the few pegasi able to go faster then her. so... let's carry on shall we?" Spike and Twilight nodded while the three walked towards a tall building that looked like a wooden tower.

the three walked into a large round, dimly-lit room filled with several colourful banners and baby blue ribbons across the balconies and saw a pure white coated unicorn mare with a royal purple mane and tail in an elegant curl. she wore a light purple blouse with black sleeves along with a black pinstripe knee-length skirt. on her nose she wore red rimmed glasses that accentuated her delicate facial figures and around her neck she had a measuring tape. her blue eyes were darting around as she looked back and forth between all kinds of coloured ribbons that floated around the room thanks to her levitation magic.

"oh no! absolutely not. perhaps a deep blue? no, light purple... oh heavens no." she quietly mumbled to herself.

Spike became completely still the very moment he saw her. a massive blush spread across his muzzle and he miraculously started floating as hearts appeared in his eyes and his smile turned into a stupid grin complete with drool. as soon as the change happened, he shook his head rapidly and returned to normal.

"beautiful." he sighed out while Twilight nodded. "indeed. the decorations look amazing so this should be quick. then we'll be in the library in no time at all." she responded while Maelstrom chuckled. "he doesn't mean the decorations Twilight, he means Rarity. don't worry; she has that effect on young men a lot." his chuckle turned into a fullblown laugh when Spike tried to pull his spines straight in a panic. "what about you?" Twilight asked Maelstrom with a smirk as his laughter finally died down to a chuckle. he raised an eyebrow at the purple mare. "nah. she's a pretty one, but she's not my type y'know? someone like ma used to be. someone who's not afraid to knock some sense into me. that's the kinda girls I'm interested in. plus Applejack would kick my ass six times 'round the orchard if I'd even think of dating a close friend of hers."

Twilight shrugged with a chuckle while she walked up to the white unicorn.

"hello, my name is-" she began but was cut off when Rarity raised her hand. "one moment please, I'm in the zone as right now." her eyes squinted as she held a large red ribbon in front of her. "ah! perfect." she tied the ribbon to a pillar letting a few glitters fall to the ground. "glitters always do the trick don't they?" she asked herself before smiling with pride. "why Rarity, you _are_ a talent." she said to herself and turned around to greet Twilight. "now, how can I help yoooouuuuuu" she turned the last word in a massive gasp as she saw the poofed up mess that was Twilight's mane. "oh my stars! whatever happened to your coiffure!?" she asked in shock. Twilight looked up and plucked at her mane. "oh, you mean my mane? that's a long story so I'll just check up on your preparations and I'll be out of your hair." she said with a pleasant smile.

"my hair?! but darling what about yours?!" Rarity nearly screamed out. "this won't do! not at all!" she exclaimed before dragging a confused Twilight into her dress room. Maelstrom pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "here she goes again." he muttered before following the two mares with Spike floating right behind him.

the scene he was met with was, in all honesty, incredibly amusing. Rarity was dressing her in all sorts of dresses while constantly making comments ranging from "too red." to "not red enough". it got a bit awkward when Rarity begun tightening a sapphire encrusted corset around Twilight's middle. after Twilight tried to -yet again- explain that she was sent from canterlot to check up on the preparations, Rarity went back into her own little world of the glitter and glamour that was known as canterlot. Maelstrom quickly ushered the purple mare and the lovestruck dragon out of the building while Rarity was still distracted. after closing the door, he wiped his brow.

"phew. well, Rarity's gonna be busy fantasizing about canterlot for a short while now. by the time she realizes we're gone, we'll be at our next destination. next stop: music."

Twilight looked oddly at Maelstrom, who answered her unasked question.

"it ain't me. I'm not the type you want playin' on a royal visit. I'm the kind of guy that plays the guitar while drinking from a bottle of scotch an' smoking from a pipe. the one in charge for the music tomorrow lives on the edge of the everfree forest. li'l piece of advice though: don't make loud noises. the poor mare gets startled extremely easily."

"but are we going to see your shop anyway?" Spike asked excidedly, before Twilight sternly shook her head.

"sorry Spike, but we have a few things to do after checking up on the preparations. remember?" Spike visibly deflated at that, but nodded regardless. "yeah okay... maybe some other time then."

the three walked into a nearly perfect garden, filled with beautiful flowers and lovely little critters running around. Twilight's ears perked up at the sound of a choir of bird whistles. they rounded the corner of a large tree cottage, revealing a tree filled with all sorts of birds, from blue jay's to hummingbirds. in front of the tree stood a kind looking pegasus mare with a yellow coat and soft pink mane and tail. she wore a green sundress with two holes in the back to let her wings out. her attention was focused on a small bird standing in front of her.

"umm excuse me mister bird..." she began with a melodic soft tone, getting the attention of every bird in the tree. "could you, please, umm, raise your tone a little bit? just a little bit... if you don't mind." she said meekly as the bird nodded and flew back to it's position in the tree.

Maelstrom put a finger to his lips as he silently approached the yellow coated mare. when he stood directly behind her, he slowly tapped her shoulder.

"hey Fluttershy. what'cha doin'?" he asked in a soft tone as to prevent the sensitive girl from startling. she quickly turned around and shied away a little bit.

"oh hey Maelstrom. I was practicing with my birds for the summer sun celebration tomorrow. why are you here?"

as if on cue, Twilight stepped forward with a smile and her hand stuck out. "good afternoon. my name is Twilight Sparkle. I've been sent from canterlot to check up on the preparations for the summer sun celebration. what's your name?" Fluttershy backed away slightly and hid her face behind her mane.

"m-my name is Fluttershy." she quitely mumbled. Maelstrom inwardly groaned and Twilight's smile faltered a little bit.

"excuse me?"

"my name... it's Fluttershy." she now squeaked out. Twilight stepped back a little bit and frowned.

"well. it seems like everything is going well here so I guess we'll be going then. come on Spike." she said to the baby dragon, who just nodded and walked alongside Twilight. upon seeing the small reptilian, Fluttershy gasped deeply and barrelled past Maelstrom and Twilight, coming to a stop in front of Spike.

"A BABY DRAGON!" she shouted enthousiastically, making the birds flee in terror. "awww, he's so cute! what's his name?" the normally quiet mare asked excidedly. "I'm Spike." the dragon answered, making Fluttershy squeal in delight. "hello Spike. my name is Fluttershy. oh wow... a talking dragon. what do dragons talk about?" she asked him.

"all kinds of stuff. what do you want to know?" Spike responded excidedly.

"absolutely everything." Fluttershy said as Twilight groaned deeply and Maelstrom chuckled uncomfortably.

after a thirty minute walk back to the library, Spike was finished with a small summary of his entire life while Fluttershy soaked the information up with a million watt smile on her face. Twilight quickly said goodbye to Maelstrom and Fluttershy before slamming the door shut. the library was pitch black but that didn't bother Twilight in the least.

"phew. finally we're alo-"

"SUPRISE!" the lights flicked on, revealing Pinkie Pie and the entire town's population smiling brightly at her. after recovering from her miniature heart attack, she glared at the pink mare who just kept smiling.

"hi! my name is Pinkie Pie and I threw this party just for you. so were you suprised? were you? were you? huh? huh? huh?" she rattled excidedly.

"very suprised... libraries are supposed to be quiet." Twilight deadpanned, but Pinkie didn't notice. "what do you mean? this is a party and what kind of welcoming party would this be if it was quiet? I mean: duh! bo-ring!" Twilight just walked away with Pinkie right behind her. "you see: I saw you with Maelstrom when you first got here, remember? I mean you were all like 'hello', and I was like 'GASP!' remember? you see, I never saw you before, and if I never saw you before that means I don't know you and I know everybody and I mean everybody in Ponyville. so that means you are new in town, and if you're new in town that means you don't have any friends and I thought that was so sad that I threw you a huge welcoming party and now you have lots of friends!" she finished while hugging Fluttershy, Rarity, rainbow Dash, Applejack and malstrom together. during Pinkie's entire speech, Twilight had managed to keep her poker face on, pour herself something to drink and emptying half of her cup, before turning red and spitting fire while running towards her new bedroom. Maelstrom picked the bottle of Twilight's drink up and checked the label.

"pepper heat's red hot pepper sauce... Pinkie, what have I told you about leaving your drinks out in the open?" he deadpanned while tossing her the bottle. she shrugged while taking a sip.

"Maelstrom!" a deep voice called. Mael turned around and saw three figures stand beside a small stage they had set up. the owner of the voice was a large dark red earth pony colt with a bright orange mane. he wore a black shirt and a pair of jeans with a print of a bass with a music note next to it. next to him stood a greyish purple pegasus mare with a spiky white and light blue mane waving at him. she wore a white tank top and shorts. in her hands she held a pair of drumsticks. the last one of the group was a mintgreen pegasus colt with snow white hair. he wore a blue jacket and black pants with a snowflake on the side of the legs.

"Basstone! Cloudchaser! Minty! good to see you guys set up already." he adressed the three with a big smile. "when are we up?" he asked Cloudchaser who pointed at the clock. "right now, doofus. that's why Basstone called you over." Maelstrom nodded and handed the guitarcase on his back to Minty who unpacked the guitar. it was a grey five snared Gibson Les Paul with white and black tornadoes spray painted on the back. Basstone plugged his black bassguitar into an amp. Cloudchaser sat down behind the drums and Maelstrom stood in the front with a mic in his hand. the four mentally counted down from five. suddently Maelstrom and Minty started at the same time.

(play on youtube: rise against, savior.)

Maelstrom closed his eyes as he started singing.

_It kills me not to know this but I've all but just forgotten_

_What the color of her eyes were and her scars or how she got them_

_As the telling signs of age rain down a single tear is dropping_

_Through the valleys of an aging face that this world has forgotten_

Maelstrom opened his eyes. Minty picked up speed while Cloudchaser and Basstone immideately blended in as the beat started picking up.

_There is no reconciliation that will put me in my place_

_And there is no time like the present to drink these draining seconds_

_But seldom do these words ring true when I'm constantly failing you_

_Like walls that we just can't break through until we disappear_

_So tell me now_

_If this ain't love then how do we get out?_

_'Cause I don't know_

_That's when she said I don't hate you boy_

_I just want to save you while there's still something left to save_

_That's when I told her I love you girl_

_But I'm not the answer for the questions that you still have_

by now ponies all across the library were either listening to the music, or dancing to the beat, like Spike and Pinkie.

_But the day pressed on like crushing weights_

_For no man does it ever wait_

_Like memories of dying days_

_That deafen us like hurricanes_

_Bathed in flames we held the brand_

_Uncurled the fingers in your hand_

_Pressed into the flesh like sand_

_Now do you understand?_

_So tell me now_

_If this ain't love then how do we get out?_

_'Cause I don't know_

_That's when she said I don't hate you boy_

_I just want to save you while there's still something left to save_

_That's when I told her I love you girl_

_But I'm not the answer for the questions that you still have_

Maelstrom took a quick sip from a glass of punch while the small instrumental bit was going on.

_1000 miles away_

_There's nothing left to say_

_But so much left that I don't know_

_We never had a choice_

_This world is too much noise_

_It takes me under_

_It takes me under once again_

_I don't hate you_

_I don't hate you no_

_So tell me now_

_If this ain't love then how do we get out?_

_'Cause I don't know_

_That's when she said I don't hate you boy_

_I just want to save you while there's still something left to save_

_That's when I told her I love you girl_

_But I'm not the answer for the questions that you still have_

_I don't hate you_

_I don't hate you_

_I don't hate you_

_I don't hate you, no._

the small band was met with cheers as they finished their song. rainbow Dash was flying in circles above the rest of the partygoers while 'whoo'ing the entire time while Spike was now running around with a lampshade over his head. Maelstrom grinned as minty started the next song up...

the nextmorning, the entirety of Ponyville was gathered inside the decorated town hall. Maelstrom sat at the front with Applebloom sitting on his shoulders, Applejack on his left and Rarity on his right. Mayor mare gave a short speech about their guest and she motioned for Rarity to open up the curtains. when the curtains opened up, the large group of ponies were shocked to see that there was no-one there.

"princess Celestia has disappeared!" a pony yelled. Maelstrom's eyes turned from a deep blue to a flaming orange for a split second as he sensed a massive amount of negative emotions leak into the building. an ominous chuckle could be heard as a vortex of black smoke gathered in the middle of the stage. the smoke took on the form of a pitch black mare with catlike blue eyes and a plasma-like blue mane and tail wearing what looked like ancient armor. on her chestplate, a blue engraved moon was visible. what shocked the occupants of the room the most though, was the fact that the mare had a horn AND wings!

she was an alicorn.

"finally... I am free!" the alicorn cackled as the ponies backed away from her. lightning shot out from behind her as she kept laughing. Applebloom lost balance and fell off of Maelstrom's shoulders, narrowly ecaping being hit by a loose bolt of lightning.

"who are you, and what have you done to our princess?" Mayor mare asked the strange alicorn with an uncharacteristical glare.

the alicorn looked at the Mayor with disgust in her eyes. "don't you know who I am?"

"ooh, ooh, ooh!" Pinkie called out. "hokey smokes! no wait.. queen meanie! no no no... black snooty, black snooty!"

"you are the mare on the moon. Nightmare Moon." Twilight spoke up with fear evident on her face.

"well well well. somepony who remembers me... that also means you know why I'm here-" nightmare moon began but was interrupted by a grey coated fist infused with a red magic aura. the alicorn flew back and impacted hard enough into a wall to leave a sizeable hole. in her place stood Maelstrom. his horn and fist glowing red and his face in a terrifying expression of rage. Nightmare Moon flew back into the building as rage was now evident on her face as well.

"you insolent welp... you dare hit me? YOUR RULER!?" she roared. Maelstrom jumped at her again and shot a red magic beam straight into her chest, slinging her backwards through another wall.

"I don't care who, or what you are..." he said with barely restrained hatred. "but nobody. NOBODY fires lightning at my family AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!" he roared in absolute fury.

_**A/N: cliffhanger! **_

_**sorry guys, no omake this chapter due to cliffhangers. this will be with every two-parter of my story. aka: Nightmare moon arc, Discord arc, Chrysalis arc... you get the point. I will start writing the next chapter as soon as I can, so until then,**_

_**seventhharmony, out!**_


End file.
